Calligraphy – Brought To You By YouTube!

Calligraphy

Origin: Greek (Kallos = beauty, graphein = write)

I cannot say I have ever considered my hand writing ‘beautiful.’ Like many male specimens, my handwriting can range anywhere from ‘precise’ to ‘requires cryptographer and rosetta stone for deciphering.’ As such, I made myself a little nervous when I set my online learning challenge as learning calligraphy.

My journey began with looking up resources on the basics of calligraphy – the pen and paper. The first video that was of assistance came via Scribble on YouTube. Appropriately named, “How To Start Writing Calligraphy,” the video set up the basics of nib with, line guides, and angle of the pen. With the basic principals of set-up in my pocket, as well as the promise of a cultured European accent at the end of the project, I went to gather my tools.

For paper I turned to my favorite site for printing staff paper for my students: PrintablePaper.net There were so many paper guide options to choose from! Thankfully, my fancy European friend had taught me well and I was able to zone in on an option with the proper writing, waist, ascending and descending lines that I needed.

The pen was more difficult. I originally intended to purchase a nice ink pen online from Blick Art Supplies, a Detroit based art company. With sincere dedication to the art of procrastination and laziness, I waited too long to order the pen I had researched and needed to go to the physical store to pick one up. The PILOT PARALLEL. YouTube reviews on calligraphy pens consistently placed this guy atthe top. I NEEDED this pen – in every color, nib with, and any accessory I could get my hands on. On the day I went to Blick, I walked into the store extremely excited to get my Pilot Parallel (think iPhone release day excited). Almost immediately my hopes and dreams were dashed as I was informed they did not carry the item in store. After drying a few silent tears from my cheek, I swiftly bought the cheapest calligraphy marker on the shelf. A $2.50 Moya double header.

With materials gathered I finally began YouTube learning adventure.

For learning lowercase and uppercase letters I used the following videos by the channel MonkeySee. Though the videos were long and required a little bit of organization to ensure no letters were being skipped, the videos were the most informative of the options I previewed. Many of the videos on YouTube were simply an individual writing the alphabet with little to no explanation. MonkeySee provided additional information that was helpful in learning my new skill!

Lower Case LettersUpper Case Letters

I have a long ways to go, but I believe that things are improving. Here is attempt at a little project that I think everyone will appreciate!

Though I still need practice, I would like to continue to learn a cursive style script. Fancier and more difficult to do well, it is a challenge that I would like to meet. Thankfully, YouTube has some great resources – stay tuned to see how this all ends!